Observations
by SpookshowBabyx
Summary: "There is something fascinating about being able to study the woman that has caused her so much grief since arriving, and while noting Emma's physical attributes is unlikely to get her any closer to ridding herself of the infuriating hussy, Regina finds herself noticing small details she has previously missed." Takes place after the fire.


Regina fumbles her key into the lock, her breathing labored with the strain of keeping the blonde at least vaguely upright. She finally succeeds in unlocking the door and thrusts it open before returning her grip to the arm draped around her neck and dragging the taller woman to the nearest possible unloading point. This turns out to be the low sofa in her study and she lets the deputy's body drop from her support and onto the sofa.

Gritting her teeth she bends down to sweep jean-clad legs up from off the floor and- hesitating slightly when faced with dark muddy boots- places them up on the sofa as well. She withdraws her hand from the crook of Emma's knee and inspects an odd wetness felt there. A dirty red smear colors her thumb and index finger, darkening at the whorls of her finger tips. She crouches down, mindful of her ankle, searching the blonde's legs for the source. There is a narrow rip at the seam of Emma's jeans a little below the knee and the mayor can see a thin glimpse of broken flesh underneath.

"Brilliant"

Although slightly surprised at the visible injury, Regina doesn't spare too much concern. During the heated argument that had taken place while traveling up her garden path not five minutes earlier, the deputy had been alternating almost every other word with a harsh cough. The angrier she became and the harder she yelled, the worse the coughing had become, and Regina had put the slight stagger she was exhibiting down to yet another delayed factor of smoke inhalation. Upon reaching the crescendo of her outrage at the mayor's blatant disregard of the events that had taken place during the fire, the blonde had doubled up, hacking fitfully, long hair hanging in her face as she tried to steady herself, and with a speed so instinctual that it had almost surprised her into removing it, Regina had grabbed Emma's waist with her arm. She had braced herself against the sudden weight as the other woman's eyes fluttered closed and had pulled a limp arm around her neck and headed quickly towards the door before this little scene could be witnessed and allow the town not just a glamorized hero, but a victimized one.

Regina stands back with her hands on her hips, a little unsure about how to continue. She has no wish to take the woman to the hospital, or anywhere else for that matter. Even unconscious she is proving to be a nuisance. Watching the soft rise and fall of red leather, the mayor decides Emma's breathing is what is probably considered normal, and thus concludes there is no immediate reason to panic. Unfortunately.

She hesitates and gives a small sound of distaste before wiping the crimson streak from her palm onto the side of her skirt. Inspecting her slightly cleaner hand, she notes the ash and dirt still clinging stubbornly at her nails. Sighing she supposes such substances are more than likely a breeding ground for infection, and, while the woman lying on her sofa is certainly one of her least favorite people, getting sick will unlikely get her anything but sympathy.

Regina reaches down and pulls the zipper on the ugly red jacket, manipulating Emma's limp arms out from the tight sleeves with difficulty, and pulling the jacket none too gently out from under her. The leather is dirty and she lets it fall discarded on the floor rather than placing it over the chair to her side. She inspects both slender arms, but aside from a grimy layer of ash at the wrists the skin is unmarked.

Moving down to examine what she presumes is the only real damage, she unlaces Emma's boots and lets them fall to the floor with a decidedly heavy thump. The deputy's feet are small and narrow and Regina can't fathom why the ridiculous woman would insist on putting them through the ordeal of carrying so much extra weight. She tries to peel the jeans up Emma's calf to get better access to the cut, but the material is so tight that Regina wonders- not for the first time- how the hell the blonde even gets into them. There is so little give, that after what feels like a great deal of exertion, the black denim has only revealed an inch of pale skin above the ankle. Cursing the almost obscenely figure-hugging material, Regina momentarily eyes the tarnished belt buckle centered at the blonde's hips before huffing in frustration. The last thing she wants to do is undress her forever vexing antagonist. Marching over to the ornate desk in the corner she snatches up the large, gold scissors resting in the stationary pot and returns to proceed to snip her way up the stiff fabric covering Emma's calf.

She stops cutting a little above the knee and peels the fabric apart, exposing a smooth expanse of pale flesh. The bleeding comes from a small gash at the lower side of Emma's knee, and while not appearing too severe, the graze looks deep and is darkened with ash and grit. Stealing a glance back up at the other woman's uncharacteristically tranquil face, Regina saunters quickly into the kitchen and fills a shallow bowl with warm water and soap, retrieving the small first aid kit from under the sink.

She crouches next to the sofa, but after a bolt of pain from her ankle, moves awkwardly in her pencil skirt so that she is kneeling level with the blonde's legs. She takes a clean white cloth from the first aid kit and wets it before dabbing gently at the thin bloody scrape. She repeats the action until first the cloth becomes stained a watery red and finally the water too holds a rosy tinge. Inspecting the now clean laceration, she places the bowl and cloth aside. She wrinkles her nose as an unexpected- albeit not unpleasant- scent of coconut slowly creeps into her awareness.

Leaning closer to the exposed skin, it dawns on her that what she is smelling is the lingering aroma of the deputy's body wash. She sniffs appreciatively as she idly regards the bare leg before her. The calf, while slender, is lined with taught muscle. The knee hosts a light spattering of small, white scars from years of nicks and scrapes. Regina lets her eyes travel over the deputy's body curiously. They are of a similar height and roughly the same size, but where she is slim and her build proudly feminine, Emma's limbs are highly toned and lean with defined muscle. Her arms are slightly tanned in contrast to the paler skin of her leg, and whilst Regina's own skin is painstakingly flawless, the blonde's leg exhibits several bruises at various stages of fading, and the odd scars and marks of twenty-eight years of being none too careful. Without thinking, the mayor traces a lacquered nail along the pleasing line of definition at Emma's calf.

What the hell!

She withdraws her hand as if burnt and looks down at the mutinous appendage in disbelief. Her eyes darting up to Emma's face uncomfortably, she is is relieved to see the deputy still appears out for the count. She shifts her weight from her knees slightly to rest on the balls of her feet, leaning closer to the blonde to make doubly sure her actions are going unnoticed. She sweeps a curl out of the younger woman's face, noting a slight darkness towards the roots. She runs her hand curiously through the long waves of bottle-blond hair and grins upon realizing that, while the deputy has taken the trouble to keep on top of her roots, she has missed several sections within the layers underneath. Her hand raking close to Emma's scalp, Regina uncovers an inch or so of soft honey blonde, duskily clashing with the harsh white-gold covering the rest of the length. She is unsurprised by the knowledge that Emma would seemingly choose to dye her own hair, rather than opting to let someone else do it for her, and once more a little disconcerted at the realization that she holds any sort of intimate assumption towards the other woman.

"Well I suppose it's painfully obvious you're not one to take much pride in your appearance, Miss Swan"

She mutters to herself and smooths the pale curls neatly back into place. There is something fascinating about being able to study the woman that has caused her so much grief since arriving, and while noting Emma's physical attributes is unlikely to get her any closer to ridding herself of the infuriating hussy, Regina finds herself noticing small details she has previously missed. The younger's often ridiculous dress sense has given her plenty of satisfaction; a flaw too obvious to be missed no matter how much time was spent at each other's throats, but even this now compels the mayor as she observes the soft contours of muscle just visible beneath the thin white fabric of the five dollar white tank.

Without thinking she inches the top up gently to expose the flat expanse of Emma's stomach. The skin is pale and dips at her middle then pulls taught over the ridge of her hip bones. The mayor bites thoughtfully at the inside of her cheek as she observes thin silver stretch marks marring either side of the peaks made by the blonde's pelvis. The significance of the marks hurt her much more deeply than she would have thought, but the visual reminder that her son would now never, truly belong to her... just her... again, is something she hadn't been prepared for. She tentatively touches one of the marks, scolding herself as jealousy prickles in her eyes, threatening to spill out onto her cheeks.

A darker scar runs from underneath the folds of the white top Regina holds bunched beneath her fingers, and she plucks it higher, to reveal the full purple tinged mark. The scar runs jaggedly from just under the blonde's delicately prominent ribcage, slightly raised, to stop an inch above her navel. The older woman analyzes the long-healed injury with interest. She recalls making a sneering comment as to how Henry would be mortified to know his jail-bird mother had cut his umbilical chord with a shiv. The remark has been designed to be nasty, and Emma had responded with her regular dose of bad attitude and dished up as good as she had been given. Observing the crude scarring to the blonde's torso, Regina wonders if the comment had perhaps been a little close to home. She takes in Emma's soft blonde hair, her dusky lashes and pretty complexion, and contemplates for the first time how tough incarceration for the deputy must have been. She traces a thoughtful finger over the cruel scar and bites back a scream as the blonde's fingers twitch on the sofa.

Hastily attempting to lower the deputy's top, Regina backs up as much as her kneeling position will allow her and busies herself with the first aid kit, selecting a plaster for the gash that she becomes sardonically aware has started bleeding again unnoticed. Emma jerks into a coughing fit, her body shaking with the intensity of her lungs trying to rid her system of any lingering smoke. The mayor's cheeks tinge pink as she realizes a large majority of Emma's stomach is still on display, but casts her eyes back down as she waits for the hacking to cease. Emma blinks at her blearily, before raising herself up onto her elbows to contemplate her surroundings with confusion and mild alarm.

"Why, Miss Swan, how lovely of you to join us"

"What... What happened?"

Her voice is hoarse and broken and she hates the weakness behind it. She distractedly pulls the material of her top down over her stomach and musses up her hair habitually. Regina smirks at her, neatly ripping open a disinfectant wipe.

"It appears you got a little over-excited after your brief show of heroics, causing you to elect to follow me home uninvited, with your mouth running faster than your head, dear"

"Oh right, that. Well as for my 'brief show of heroics', Madame Mayor, you're welcome"

Emma glowers at the woman before her, hissing through gritted teeth as the latter swabs the strong-smelling wipe over her knee with deliberate roughness. Emma bends her knee up to see the damage better, causing a fresh rivet of blood to trickle down her shin. Rolling her eyes, Regina forcefully pushes the leg back down and clears up the dribble descending towards Emma's sock.

"Hold still, Miss Swan! I'd rather you didn't get any of yourself on my sofa"

Emma sniffs moodily but complies, doing her best not to flinch as Regina firmly presses soft gauze over her knee.

"I'm afraid it'll most likely leave a scar"

Emma shrugs and raises her leg slightly to allow Regina to wrap a thin bandage around her knee to hold the gauze in place.

"That's ok, it's not like I get my legs out much anyway"

The mayor's cheeks pinken slightly at this as she pins the bandage in place. She pulls the tatters of Emma's jeans down and is met with a sharp cry.

"What the hell did you do to my pants?!"

Regina raises an eyebrow and points coquettishly at the scissors lying next to her

"Cut them, Miss Swan. I could of course have just left the injury to bleed and get infected, but as saving you the hassle of a tetanus shot seemed like the perfect chance to repay you for your valiant efforts this morning, I was forced to remove them- and given that you insist on wearing garments that fit you like a second-skin, I was really left with only one option"

"You couldn't have just taken them off?!"

"Miss Swan, I hardly think that would have been appropriate"

"I was unaware the whole damn town would be alerted as to your actions in a medical crises"

"Medical crisis?"

Regina snorts and quickly gets to her feet, suddenly aware that with Emma awake, she doesn't like being lower than the blonde. Hands on hips she surveys the younger woman, corners of her mouth twitching as Emma makes a futile attempt to join the ruined jeans back together.

"Would you like me to fetch a stapler?"

Emma shoots her a murderous look before swinging her legs off the sofa and testing her weight on her leg. Finding she can walk on it with minimal discomfort she promptly searches for her jacket. Upon locating it and throwing it on, she walks cautiously over to stand before Regina.

"Look. Thanks for, um, cleaning me up"

She extends a hand awkwardly, not entirely sure if the mayor will shake it or bite it. When Regina proceeds to choke back a bout of laughter unsuccessfully, Emma retracts her hand swiftly, eyeing her furiously, but also a little hurt. Regina quickly pulls herself under control and steps in front of the blonde who is angrily storming past her. The slight limp only adds to the previous reason for the mayor's mirth and she chuckles again, placing a hand on the deputy's arm to stop her.

"I apologize, Miss Swan, but with your pants flapping around your leg like that, you really do look more ridiculous than usual"

"No thanks to you!"

Regina ignores the young woman's grumbling and flicks back her hair irritably

"Wait here, you will just have to borrow something to make your way home in"

She saunters upstairs and returns a few minutes later with a pair of dark slacks. She hands them to Emma who holds them up against herself uncertainly, her slim fingers barely gripping the fabric as if afraid it might turn on her. Regina watches this with mild amusement.

"You really couldn't have just taken my damn pants off?"

The mayor rolls her eyes and taps a heeled foot on the ground impatiently

"I'm afraid knowing the color and style of the town deputy's underpants is not a notion I'm particularly taken with"

Emma surprises her by laughing at this and rolling her own eyes in return. She places the slacks on the armrest of the sofa before pointedly working the belt of her jeans. Regina sighs and makes a show of averting her eyes as the blonde steps out of her jeans and crumples them up to be thrown away. She gives the slacks one more doubtful shake before stepping gingerly into them. She struggles to pull the crisp fabric over her thighs and almost loses her balance, causing Regina to look up at the odd movement. She catches a glimpse before Emma manages to pull the slacks on fully and blushes slightly as she now knows exactly what color and style her town deputy prefers when it comes to her underpants.

"If I had known said town deputy's salacious tastes went only so far as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cotton shorties I would have been more willing to take her jeans off"

"Yeah? Well sorry to disappoint, all my crotchless leathers are in the wash. Perhaps next time?"

Regina snorts and watches the blonde struggle to find a comfortable place for the pants to sit on her hips. The slacks fit her awkwardly, stretched tight over he muscles in her thighs, and falling a little short at her ankles. She regards Regina sullenly, shifting her weight from side to side slightly to try and create some give from the uncomfortably tight material. The open smirk on the mayor's face is infuriating, and she tosses her hair back irritably, stormy eyes daring the older woman to make a remark. The effect is somewhat lost, as with her red jacket, biker boots and murderous expression, the ill-fitting pants just look all the more ridiculous.

"I suggest, Miss Swan, that you refrain from sitting down in those, unless you wish to display those cute little shorties to anyone unfortunate enough to be present"

"Ah, fat-jokes, my cue to leave"

"Fat, no, but you do look ridiculous"

"I am acutely aware of this"

"Perhaps you would rather I fetched you a skirt?"

Emma raises an eyebrow, offering the other woman a burlesque shudder and turns for the door.

"Good day, Madame Mayor".


End file.
